Charges dropped against Walloon Lake utility owner

CHARLEVOIX — Authorities dropped charges against a Boyne Falls man previously accused of extortion and placing false liens on property, all in connection to the Walloon Lake Water System.

Dennis Lee Hass, 52, initially faced one extortion and two illegal encumbering of real property charges in Charlevoix County, all felony counts that could have landed him in prison for up to 20 years, if convicted. Instead, prosecutors recently dropped charges when Hass retained a second lawyer and to allow more time for a business appraisal to be completed before pressing court deadlines.

Accusations included that Hass overcharges for water service, requires large minimum monthly purchases and when property owners can't pay, he allegedly shuts off water service. Hass also allegedly placed at least two false liens on property but could not justify the amounts to investigators, records show.

Prosecutors offered Hass a plea bargain and court records revealed details. He could plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge, but only if he surrenders the monopolistic water system.

"Mr. Haas's (Hass') case was dismissed for several reasons: he has a different criminal attorney in the case and the fact that potential plea negotiations were being discussed but there hasn't been a value on the system yet. There was an appraisal that was done, but the numbers are not there yet and I am told they wouldn't have been ready by the timeframe of the court's schedule," Jarema said in a written response to questions. "Mrs. Fanara dismissed the case pending the appraisal and gathering the financial numbers to enter into plea negotiations. I concur with her decision."

Boyne City attorney Tim Arner represents Hass and he also is now joined by lawyer Bryan Klawuhn, of Petoskey.

Arner agreed with Jarema that the case was not ready to go to a preliminary examination and that's why authorities dismissed the charges. But he could not confirm that the dismissal had anything to do with a financial appraisal, he said.

Arner declined to comment on any possible plea bargain because he said it's inappropriate to discuss that outside the courtroom.

"There's been a lot of inaccurate information publicized about this case and we've decided not to counter that," he said. "As far as we're concerned, there is no case as this time."

Records show that Charlevoix County Sheriff's deputy William Church launched an investigation into Hass' business practices last year after being contacted by a property owner's attorney.

Hass owns a tariff with the village that amounts to a legal monopoly over his nearly 200 customers. A local health department official previously explained that such a monopoly is allowed because standard policy is to refuse residential water well permit applications where public water service is available. That standard is intended to avoid creating aquifer vulnerability.